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US Senator Ted Cruz pushes for crypto in Congress … using snacks

A newly introduced resolution could potentially see lawmakers buying sodas and chips using crypto-supporting vending machines.

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is pushing the United States Congress to adopt cryptocurrency within its halls using an incentive both sides might agree on — food.

Cruz introduced a concurrent resolution dated Jan. 25 that would only allow vending machine and food service contractors that accept crypto as a payment option within the U.S. Capitol.

If adopted, the Architect of the Capitol, the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives would be required to find the crypto-accepting food and vending firms.

At the time of writing, the text of the resolution was not publicly available on the Congress website. It’s unknown the potential cost of implementing the measure, or if the resolution would require contractors to take payment in certain cryptocurrencies.

The U.S. Capital Cafe could be one of the purveyors required to take crypto payments. Source: Google

Cointelegraph contacted Cruz’s office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Cruz has long been a vocal advocate for cryptocurrencies, especially lauding Bitcoin (BTC) for its decentralization. At roughly this time last year, the senator bought between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of BTC, according to a financial disclosure.

Related: Crypto industry leaders ‘scared of a strong SEC’ — Senator Warren

He is one of only eight known crypto investors in Congress, according to the “Bitcoin Politicians” crowdsourced data project.

The list also includes Cynthia Lummis, the Wyoming senator behind a pro-crypto piece of legislation and Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvanian senator who recently introduced a stablecoin bill aiming to create a regulatory framework for payments.

Senator Cruz also has signaled his interest to make his home state of Texas an oasis for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, saying crypto mining could be used to monetize the energy from oil and gas extraction and the activity may be used as an alternate way of storing energy.

The resolution put forward by Cruz will need to be agreed to in both the Senate and the House before it can be adopted.

Counterpunch: Russia Reveals Plan to Utilize Frozen Western Assets

Taco tokens: Chipotle adds crypto payments via Flexa

Nearly 3,000 Chipotle restaurants across the U.S. will accept 98 cryptocurrencies as the Mexican-style fast food chain partners with Flexa to support crypto payments.

The popular Mexican fast food chain Chipotle is now accepting cryptocurrency payments through digital payment provider Flexa at all of its over 2,950 United States based restaurants.

Flexa announced the partnership on June 1st which will see Chipotle accept all the 98 cryptocurrencies Flexa currently supports including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and seven U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins including USD Coin (USDC). Chipotle's website does not contain any information on the announcement however.

The fast food giant is the latest Flexa partner joining other large businesses such as cinema operator Regal Theaters and Bancoagrícola, El Salvador’s largest financial institution where Flexa enables both retail and merchant Bitcoin transactions for the bank's customers.

Chipotle has briefly experimented with cryptocurrencies in the past. In April 2021 to celebrate National Burrito Day it gave away $100,000 worth of Bitcoin along with free burritos and claimed it was the first U.S. restaurant brand to offer a crypto giveaway.

For the so called “chiptocurrency” giveaway Chipotle partnered with former Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas, creating a game where players guessed a code possibly winning either a burrito or up to $25,000 worth of Bitcoin.

The game parodied Thomas’ experience of losing over 7,000 BTC due to forgetting the password for his crypto wallet which today would be worth over $208 million.

Other fast food names have explored or signaled interest in crypto and metaverse applications for their brands. Burger King partnered with trading platform Robinhood in Nov 2021 and gave away free Dogecoin (DOGE) BTC and ETH with meal purchases.

Related: How can the Metaverse help the food industry?

McDonald’s, known for poking fun at crypto Twitter, filed multiple trademark applications in February including plans for “a virtual restaurant featuring actual and virtual goods” in the Metaverse and “operating a virtual restaurant featuring home delivery.”

With crypto adoption in the U.S. remaining high despite market turbulence merchants have expressed desire to implement payment solutions to capture the growing interest.

A Crypto.com global survey of merchants released in February showed only 4% were already accepting cryptocurrency payments, but nearly 60% of merchants responded with an interest in accepting crypto payments within the next year.

Although enthusiasm from merchants overall was high only around 25% of the hospitality industry respondents were keen on crypto payment adoption.

Counterpunch: Russia Reveals Plan to Utilize Frozen Western Assets